***Disclaimer***

I do not have any type of ownership of Ranma ½ in any way and such; I don’t have any right to be using the characters or places used. I only use them in my stories that I create to quench my writing desire to change the fate of the Ranma Universe at some level. General Warning to the owners of Ranma ½: Don’t bother suing me please. I’m still a lowly college student and if you remember your college days, money is scarce while schoolwork is plentiful (yet I can still make time to write this stuff. Lets here it for procrastination). It will be only considered a loss on your part.

***WARNING***

I’m still a beginning writer at this; so don’t get bent out of shape if my grammar goes to hell throughout the story.

***Story Notes***

I was inspired to do this while I was writing, “Return of the Eagle.” I was in the middle of one of the earlier chapters when I thought about all the Ranma altaverse/divergence stories that exist out there. In every one of them, Ranma either has his regular curse or no curse. There is a rare few that deal with Ranma who has a curse that is completely different than the norm. Plus, no matter what story it is, Genma is always a panda. What would happen if Ranma and Genma, while at Cursed Springs, Jusenkyo, received different curses from the original cannon? As such, this story came about. Hope you enjoy it.

Italics for thoughts and brackets for the sign language

A Tendo & Her Falcon

Chapter 3

“I’m home!” Nabiki gently shook her umbrella and placed it in the stand next to the door before slipping out of her shoes and into her house slippers. Just as she was about to head upstairs, Kasumi walked out of the kitchen.

“Oh my, did you two get caught in the rain?”

“Not too badly. I was able to get an umbrella before the downpour.”

“That’s good to hear. Before you head up, Father has called a family meeting.”

“Oh,” she wasn’t expecting this. “Do you know what it’s about?”

“No I don’t,” shaking her head. “But what ever it is, Father very excited while reading the mail and is acting very serious about this meeting. Can you get Akane while I notify Father that you’re home?”

“Is she practicing still?” Nabiki asked, knowing the answer, while setting Ra on his pedestal. When Kasumi confirmed her assumption, she started out for the dojo, already hearing the sounds of her sister’s workout. Walking into the dojo’s open door, she saw Akane pounding on a training dummy with more than her normal strength until main post finally snapped, no longer able to stand up against her Akane’s assault.

“That feels better,” wiping her brow with her sleeve. Akane glowed in pride with her accomplishment, not even hearing someone enter the dojo. “There you go again, Akane. No wonder the boys all think you’re so weird.” Akane turned to see Nabiki leaning against the wall. “So why should I care?” Casually calling over her shoulder with a look of indifference. “Not everybody thinks the world revolves around boys Nabiki.”

Nabiki just smirked at her little sister’s way of thinking, “No? But don’t men have to first be a boy?” She watched Akane think over that response for a little bit before doing what she came out for. “Kasumi asked me to fetch you for the family meeting,” and walked out not caring if Akane followed right away.

As she walked into the dining room, she saw her father sitting at the head of the table in a formal sitting posture. Kasumi was already sitting at the other end waiting patiently as she petted Ra. Nabiki sat next to her as Akane came into the room, still dressed in her gi and sat net to her. Glancing over, it seemed that Akane was still thinking over what she said. But before anything else could be said, their father started speaking.

--Somewhere in town--

A small black piglet with a yellow and black bandanna wandered the streets, apparently very lost. Damn it Pops. Why did you have to humiliate me like this with everyone watching? Then you go and take my clothes and pack and leave me. On top of all that, you want me to marry someone out of the blue. Ranma paused at a street corner looking for a place to go.

I should just head back to China and leave you hanging old man. It’s the least you deserve after all the trouble you got us into. But I need my clothes and pack if I’m going to do that. Suddenly, his stomach let itself be known of its needs. “I guess I could stop by this guys place to get cleaned up and something to eat. While I’m there I could meet this girl that Pop wants me to marry as well. That would be polite at least. Taking a moment of concentration while thinking of the address that he was told. Ranma then slowly opened his eyes and looked at the street sign. Yes! I’m going the right way again. This must be a good day. Then with a little hop, he started strolling down the correct street, not noticing that he was going the wrong direction on the street as the rain fell from above.

--Tendo Dojo--

Outside, the rainfall gave a soothing sound to the peaceful house when three voices combined into one, breaking the peaceful sound. “Fiancée?” Kasumi, Nabiki, and Akane, stared at their father in shock with the news that they have just been told. Ranma stood on his pedestal in surprise. He didn’t think that this would happen at the meeting. Glancing over at Nabiki, he was relieved that she seemed indifferent with the news. As he was about to think about this, Soun started speaking again.

Soun smiled at his daughters, holding the postcard from his friend in his hand. His was so happy that his daughters were so happy about the news, totally misreading their question. “Yes. The son of a very good friend of mine. The son’s name is Ranma Saotome.”

Ranma heard this and almost didn’t catch himself from falling over in shock. I thought know one knew about me? Could they have known all along? Taking a glance he could tell that they weren’t looking at him, answering that question. Ok, if it’s not me, then who else has the same first and last name as I do? Is there another Saotome family that Pop never told me about? What is going on?

“If one of you three girls were to marry him and carry on this training center then the Tendo family legacy would secure.” Soun smiled as the dream that he and Genma planned will be soon coming to fruition.

“Wait a minute!” Akane interrupted before her father could say any more, “Don’t we have any saw in who we marry?”

“Akane’s right, Daddy. We’ve never even met Ranma.” Kasumi stated, trying to figure out why their father would tell them this news now.

Soun chuckled to himself, “That is easily fixed. This letter here,” holding up the panda postcard, “is a letter from my friend whom I’ve spoken about and they are to be here soon. In fact they might be here today since this was mailed from China.”

“Oh, and why would it be mailed from China?” Nabiki said, finally becoming interested.

“Recently, it seems they crossed into China while training.”

This really got Nabiki’s attention, “Wow! China!” Ranma was now becoming interested because everything that he has heard has matched what he did, but something wasn’t making sense yet.

“What’s so great about walking to China?” Akane said with complete indifference.

Nabiki glanced at her little sister, “Haven’t you ever wanted to travel out of Japan, little sister?” Leaving her with that thought, Nabiki turned on her father, now becoming excited, “Is he cute?”

“How old is he? Younger men bore me.” Kasumi stated flatly.

Together, “What kind of guy is this Ranma?” Kasumi and Nabiki asked their smiling father.

Clearing his throat, Soun looked at his daughters seriously. “I have no idea.”

Nabiki leveled a steady gaze at her father, “No, idea?”

“I’ve never met him. But he and his father should be here soon and that can be easily solved.” Then, before he could continue, everyone heard the front gate open. “I wonder who that could be.”

“I’ll go see, Father.” When Kasumi opened the front door, she found a woman, about her height. A bandanna covered the top of her head while her dark auburn hair flowed from under it down to her shoulders. She was dressed in a white gi that showed off her well-formed frame while a black belt kept the gi closed. What really surprised her were the two packs that she had on her back. “Yes? May I help you?”

Genma-chan looked at the young woman in front of him then remembered this was one of Soun’s daughters, “Yes, is Soun Tendo in. I would like to speak with him.”

“Yes, if you would follow me,” allowing the woman a moment to drop her packs near the door before walking down the hall. Genma breathed a sigh of relief; Ranma’s pack was a bit heavier than he had thought.

Everyone turned to see Kasumi leading a young woman in who was dressed in a gi. Akane’s first thought was that maybe this guest would spar with her. Soun, Nabiki, and Kasumi were trying to figure out what this stranger wanted. “Father, this woman said she wanted to speak with you.”

When Genma-chan came into view, his eyes immediately started watering seeing his old training buddy again after so long. “Soun, it’s so good to see you again,” as he grabbed his surprised friend in a bear hug.

Nabiki now understood who this was, especially how the woman was holding their father. “Daddy, I personally don’t have a major problem with you seeing other women but don’t you think you could have waited for her to be here until we are in bed or maybe somewhere else? We have enough money that a night at a hotel wouldn’t be a problem if you needed to see her.”

“Wha… What?” Soun continued his attempts to pry himself away from this strong, well-endowed woman’s grip. “How could you think of me like that Nabiki? You know I would never do anything like that.” Soun momentarily froze as he realized what his hands were suddenly pressing on.

“Do I really have to explain, Daddy?” Kasumi looked down at the table, embarrassed with the show in front of them. Akane was about to jump up to rescue their father when she too realized what he was doing. Genma stopped when he felt two hands pressing on his chest, but what really froze him was the reaction inside that he was getting from the attention. Looking down, he saw that he friend, in his desperation to get away, had managed to place both hands on her breasts while giving them a good grope. Faster than they could see, Genma had released Soun from her hold and backed away a few feet.

“Miss, I’m…” Soun tried to think of a delicate way to say this while he tried to recover from what he just felt. “I’m sorry about that. But before anything else is said, who are you my dear?” Soun managed to recover himself well enough to keep his dignity.

Ranma, meanwhile, had been trying to figure out what was going on. He knew there was something missing from this story since he was right here. Plus, his father no longer recognized him as his son, so there couldn’t possibly be another Ranma Saotome. When he saw who came back with Kasumi, a memory flashed back to Jusenkyo, as the image was a familiar one, just after his father had fallen in the spring of drowned woman. When she came in the light, Ranma knew without a doubt that this person was his father. Before he could think of anything to do to his father, Genma had grabbed Soun in a strong bear hug while shouting with joy. Ranma struggled not to laugh at the situation that Soun was in and how idiotic his father looked right now. He was so distracted that he totally missed Nabiki’s comment and was able to quickly collect himself when he saw the two men… man and woman separate with embarrassed looks.

Genma quickly re-evaluated his situation. Looking around the room he saw the three Tendo daughters. From their looks, he could tell that he could be in trouble, especially from the one with long dark hair. Cursing silently for forgetting what form he was in, he… she collected herself as best she could before addressing the family. “My name is Genma Saotome.” BAM! Genma-chan looked over to see that Soun had fallen over in shock and realized he needed to explain something. “Um… Could I get some hot water please?”

As Kasumi got up to fulfill the request, Nabiki and Akane helped their father get back to sitting again. “Ge… Genma? Is that really you?” Genma nodded her head as Kasumi handed her the kettle. “B… But, how?”

Genma didn’t answer for a moment, “It was a training accident. But I better show you first.” As she poured the water on herself, she felt herself change back. He lost his hair and filled out his gi and his face became a little more rounded and stood before the amazed crowd, again, a man. “It all happened in Jusenkyo…” then it all went black.

Akane saw the transformation in utter shock. Standing right before her was no longer a woman and a potential sparring partner, but a man that was her fathers friend. His voice snapped her back to reality and when that happened, she realized what this friend had done with her father. With righteous furry, she grabbed the table and slammed it onto his head knocking him unconscious, yelling, “You PERVERT!”

Ranma tried to realize what had just happened before he was unceremoniously dumped from the table with his pedestal to the floor as Akane grabbed the table and crashed it on his father, as a piece fell into place from watching Akane. Ok, if I ever can find a way to change back I promise to try to work with Akane and her temper, some how. Then he realized something. His father that, with only hot water, changed from a very petite woman to the same tubby man that he remembered. Hot water? Is that how I can change back? There has to be something else to it, but…

Ranma face dropped as he realized that he might finally have the answer that he had been looking for. But he realized that he was now an integrated part of the family here and him changing would damage a lot of what he had. The relationship with Nabiki was something he didn’t want to loose and this could seriously damage it. He would have to wait it out until he learned more about this cure that he had just seen.

Kasumi and Soun stared in shock at Genma’s unconscious form under the table. Soun was unable to say anything, luckily, Kasumi said it for him, “Oh my.” Slowly getting over what they saw, Soun suddenly remembered who and what he was grabbing just moments before and shivered in terror as he tried to banish those thoughts. Kasumi, after recovering herself, put a pillow under Genma’s head while she set the table back up with Nabiki’s help, who was a little quicker at coming back to reality. “Oh dear, are you ok Ra?” Kasumi stated, seeing the falcon on his back while still holding onto the pedestal.

Nabiki looked over to where Kasumi was looking and saw a similar sight. With quick movements, she was at his side giving him a quick check over before standing him up again then bringing him onto her arm. “Why didn’t you let go of the pedestal? You could have saved yourself from falling on your back like that?” She smiled as Ra looked a little embarrassed from his forgetfulness. “Next time, think before you act and always be aware of what’s happening.” From his position on her arm, Ranma saw Nabiki switch her emotions faster than flipping a switch and from his position he could swear that the temperature dropped. “Akane, next time you try to smash guests with the table or any other piece of furniture, make sure that the item is clear of all the items so nothing else is damaged.”

Akane cringed at the coolness of her sister’s voice and glancing over, she realized what, or rather whom she forgot about. “Sorry Nabiki, I forgot. I’ll remember next time.” She waited for a reply for Nabiki when she realized what she was waiting for. “Oops, sorry about that Ra.” Gees, why do I have to apologize to him anyway. He’s only a pet. It’s not like he can understand what we are saying or have an opinion. Ranma listened to Akane’s apology and added this little problem to his list of what he felt needed to be straightened with Akane when he was able to become human again. “I’ll be out practicing if anyone needs me,” and walked out of the house towards the dojo. She still had some pent up furry that needed to be released.

After hearing her little sister’s apology, Nabiki relaxed again. But when she did, a strange idea came to her, considering what she just saw a few moments ago. Could Ra be from Jusenkyo as well? I wonder… “Kasumi, is there anymore water from the kettle?” Her attention diverted, she never saw Ra’s face flinch.

Puzzled by her sister’s question, Kasumi looked in and found a little left. “There is a little bit, not very much though. Why?”

“After what we just saw and considering how smart Ra is here. I figured a test was needed.” Taking the kettle from Kasumi, Nabiki proceeded to pour the hot water over Ra. Only about a half cup came out before the kettle was empty. Seeing that she still had a falcon on her arm, Nabiki let the idea go. “Well, I guess that answers that question. I guess you are a regular falcon.”

Suddenly, she was showered with water as Ra shook the water off, flinging it everywhere in close proximity. Using her other arm to wipe the water off her face, Nabiki leveled a nasty glare at her friend. “Next time, warn me before you do that.” Embarrassed, Ranma studied the floor also to not crack up laughing at how silly Nabiki looked then. When he looked up again, he saw a warm smile on her face as she patted him on the head and took him outside as the sun started to come out again.

--Sometime later--

Genma woke to a splitting headache while lying face down. Slowly getting up, he looked around the room and found Soun sitting there with a questioning look on his face. “Soun, what happened?”

“It appears Akane, in her anger over your, ahem, change knocked you out with the table.” Genma’s opinion of Akane’s ability’s just upgraded. Not many people can do that to him. “Genma,” tears started to form in Soun’s eyes. “What happened to you? And where is Ranma? You said you were bringing him. Please tell me that nothing serious happened to him?” Now on familiar ground, Genma went into his sad, sad tale of Jusenkyo. By the end, both men were in tears as they faced each other, sitting on pillows. “And what of your son?”

“Oh, my poor son. He too is cursed but changes into a little pig. The embarrassment of it all! On top of that, he now has picked up a direction problem. During our stay in China, I was able to work with him a bit and determined that his direction problem comes from being overly depressed. After teaching him a couple calming exercises, he can usually find his way without a problem, while he is calm, otherwise he becomes lost very quickly.” Both men cried silently in the horror of the situation. “Luckily, I told him where this place was before I lost him. He should be here sometime soon.” Genma avoided telling him how he lost Ranma.

“Let’s hope for the best my dear friend.” Soun stated as tears continued to fall.

Nabiki gazed at the setting sun from her window, Ra on his pedestal next to her. Her thoughts were going over what all has happened today. They had found out that they were engaged to marry the son of their father’s friend. Then, his friend happens to be able to change sexes with water. They would be a formal introduction later tonight before dinner. Right now, Genma was explaining everything to their father. On top of all this, they still hadn’t met their intended as he apparently had gotten lost on the way here.

Ranma, meanwhile, continued to try to solve his problem with his curse. He now knew how to reverse it, but he didn’t know how long it would last. Without this information, changing back would be worthless since he could still change suddenly without knowing. Plus he still hasn’t been able to figure out how to be able to change without destroying everything that he had as a falcon. His mulling though was suddenly interrupted as his sharp eyes caught movement in the yard and saw that it was a little black pig with a bandanna around its neck.

Nabiki noticed Ra’s focusing look and saw what he found and decided to have a little fun and maybe give Akane something else to do besides martial arts. “Don’t kill it, Ra. Just grab it and bring it here. I think Akane could use a pet nowadays.” Without further encouragement, Ra launched himself out the window.

Ranma-Ryoga, meanwhile, had finally been able to find the dojo. After a few hours of strolling down the street, he realized his error and ran back to make up for lost time. Arriving a few minutes ago, he decided to try to sneak his way in so he could grab some clothes and arrive as a boy instead of a pig. But shortly after finding his way into the backyard, his danger sense went off and dogged to the side. Looking back, he saw something that sent a shiver of fear down his little pig spine. It was a falcon and it looked like it wanted pig for dinner. Deciding to make a run for it, Ranma-Ryoga started running for cover. Before he could get much farther than a few feet, he instinctively dodged again as the falcon made another pass at him. Ok, that’s it. I’m not going down with out a fight. Then without another thought, Ranma-Ryoga stood up on his hind legs and took a martial arts stance as the falcon turned to make another pass.

Ranma-hayabusa had been surprised that the pig was able to dodge his attempt to grab him. When he missed the second time, the pig gained a lot of respect. Coming around for the third pass, Ranma-hayabusa almost fell from the air when he saw the pig standing on his hind legs in a familiar stance that his family used. So, the little pig knows Anything Goes. Let’s see how much he knows. Then as he was about to start his attack, he realized something. This guy probably went to Jusenkyo as well. I wonder who this is then?

Nabiki watched in amazement from her window. This was the first time that she had ever seen a pig stand up like he did. What happened next though, topped that. When Ra was close enough to the pig, it attempted to swing at Ra. Ra banked hard to the right, easily missing the attack but the pig wasn’t finished as he turned his head in an attempt to bite Ra. Ra instinctively moved his wings out of the way, almost expecting the pig to try that. Then, with unmatched grace and speed, Ra changed his turn and accelerated through it and circled the pig. Ra then struck the pig’s undefended chin with his closed claw, sending him into the wall. She watched as Ra flapped over to the still pig form and grabbed it by the bandanna and flew back to her, dropping it in front of her.

Quickly checking it’s pulse; Nabiki noticed that it was still alive, just unconscious. Before she could comment on how well Ra did, Nabiki heard her sister heading downstairs for her bath. Quickly grabbing the pig, Nabiki opened the door to see her sister just pass her. “Hey Akane.” Akane stopped and turned to see what Nabiki wanted. “Ra found this guy outside. He’s alive, just sleeping and I thought you might like to have a pet too?” holding up the unconscious pig for Akane to see.

Akane saw the pig and fell in love immediately. “Oh, he’s adorable. Of course I’ll take him Nabiki.” Suddenly a thought came up, after all this is Nabiki. “How much?”

“Free of charge. It’s my family discount rate. Why don’t you take him with you when you bathe? The hot water might help wake him up.”

“I’ll do that.” Akane turned and headed down the stairs. Nabiki the last thing she said was, “I think I’ll name you P-chan.”

Nabiki closed the door and saw Ra staring at her with an amusing look on his face. “Don’t give me that. Family comes before business. She seemed to love him though. By the way that was an excellent job in the way you handled capturing him unscathed, especially when he…” She paused as a strange thought came to mind. Wait a minute that pig stood up and took a stance like a human would. That could only mean… Nabiki quickly rushed to the door when a scream came from downstairs. Oops. “If you don’t say anything then I won’t,” as she picked up Ra and went downstairs to see what all the commotion was and to see who the pig turned into.

--A few moments earlier--

Akane, held P-chan in her arms after cleaning herself, anxious to get into the hot water and relax. She looked down at the sleeping pig as she stepped into the tub, holding the pig up so it wouldn’t get wet yet. Akane always wanted a pet since Nabiki found Ra but she wanted something cuter than a falcon and this pig was the perfect answer. Pigs were so cute as they strolled around or sat doing nothing. Picking up a washcloth, Akane dipped it into the hot tub water and let it soak up all it could. Then she started to scrub P-chan.

To her surprise, the little pig she was holding turned into a boy and instead of scrubbing P-chan’s belly; she was rubbing a washboard chest and stomach of a boy. On top of that, the boy woke up as he fell into the tub. Before he could say anything, Akane’s mind caught up with what was going on and screamed, “YAAAAAAA!”

Punching the boy in the face, knocking him out again, Akane jumped out of the tub, dressed back in her gi and ran out into the dining room where people had gathered after hearing her scream. Ignoring everyone, Akane ran outside and grabbed the large stone lamp that was near the door and turned to take it inside. “I’ll drown him in the bathtub.”

“What are you going to do with that, sister?” Nabiki asked as she came around the corner.

“There is a pervert in the bathroom.”

“What do you mean? You were in there with P-chan. Who else was in there?” Nabiki asked, already knowing what happened.

“That pig changed into a boy when he touched the hot water. He is a pervert and must die.” In all the excitement, no one saw Genma run towards the bathroom.

“Why didn’t you kill him with your bare hands then?”

“Because I was afraid,” Akane said, as if it was the most obvious answer.

“I wonder who it was. Mr. Saotome was with father during then.” Kasumi put in. She was beginning to worry for the poor boy’s health if Akane saw him again. But before anyone else could say anything else, the three heard a shuffling coming from the hall. “Huh?”

Before them stood Genma, smiling broadly, with his arm wrapped around a young boy with a bandanna wrapped around his head dressed in black pants and a yellow Chinese shirt. “Who are you,” Nabiki and Kasumi asked together.

“I… I’m Ranma Saotome. Sorry about this.” Ranma-Ryoga said blushing with embarrassment while scratching the back of his neck. Ranma-hayabusa only stared at the boy claiming to be Ranma, trying to figure out why this person looked familiar.

--Later--

Ranma-hayabusa sighed as he gazed into the star filled sky from the roof peek of the Tendo’s house. Ranma found himself flying up here when the weather permitted it almost every night for a couple hours after Nabiki had fallen asleep. Up here he would just look up and enjoy the stars, like he used to do with his father during his training. But tonight, his thoughts were running rampart about the arrival of his father, and the other Ranma Saotome who Ranma-hayabusa knew as Ryoga Hibiki from Junior High.

It was during the formal meeting that things were fully explained. More specifically how the curses were caught. Ranma-hayabusa had to admit that his old man really knew how to bend the truth. Where ‘Ranma’ had knocked in his father into the pool of drowned woman, Genma had knocked Ranma into the pool of drowned piglet and in the shock of seeing his son become a pig, fell off his perch into the pond of drowned woman.

Genma even explained that ‘Ranma’ became inflicted with a horrible direction sense and literally could get lost in a room with a singe door. Ranma-hayabusa immediately knew who the boy was when Genma started going into detail how he helped his ‘son’ with his problem. The boy was Ryoga Hibiki, someone that Ranma-hayabusa had considered a friend even though they were fighting all the time. Ryoga was the first real challenge, besides his father, that Ranma actually enjoyed sparring with, even if Ryoga saw it as something more than a spar.

Then after a brief demonstration of the curses, the reason for the meeting became fully apparent. ‘Ranma’ was to choose a fiancée and secure the legacy of the Anything Goes Martial Arts School by combining the Saotome and Tendo heir of their respected schools by marriage.

--Flashback--

Everyone was seated in the dining room, surprised into a silence of the curses demonstrated again. This time though, the boy turned pig was fighting the man turned woman in the oddest fight ever as the pig jumped around the woman’s defenses and occasionally scratched or nipped her as the woman occasionally got a hit in. When asked why Mr. Saotome did something so dangerous, she simply presented to them a small packet.

“It’s a Chinese map… and guide book?” Kasumi said.

Nabiki was looking at the information with her sister. “Something about training grounds.”

Kasumi took the book from her sister, took a good look and noticed a small problem. “No wonder, you can’t read Chinese, can you?”

“Correct!” Mr. Saotome said humbly as she pulled a rope, opening a small ball with confetti and a “You guessed it” banner. ‘Ranma’ took this opportunity to get a good bite in for good measure. “OWE!” Genma-chan screamed. Before ‘Ranma’ could get away, she grabbed him by the neck but before she could reprimand her son, boiling water could be felt being poured onto her. “HOOOOOOOOTTTT!” dropping ‘Ranma.’

“So, when doused with hot water, you return to human form.” Soun said, finally understanding everything.

“It need not be quite that hot.” Genma said, wiping some of the water off.

“When doused with cold water, you become a little black pig,” pointing to Ranma-Ryoga and was answered with a nod of the head. While his guard was down, Soun dumped the remaining water on the small pig, resulting in a very angry boy dressed in his birthday suit.

“YEEEEEOOOOOWWWW!” Ranma-Ryoga screamed. Turning on Soun, Ranma-Ryoga opened his mouth to, let him know the difference between hot and boiling water when he felt a draft. Looking down, he realized the problem. “YAAAHHH!” With god-speed, Ranma-Ryoga dashed outside, plucked his shirt and pants out of the pond, wrung all the water out of them, and slipped them on in a matter of five seconds.

--Present--

Ranma-hayabusa let out a soft sigh. After seeing Ryoga change from a pig to a human again, he realized a problem. He didn’t have any clothes. He lost his clothes at Jusenkyo in the pool. As he gave it some more thought, he realized with his father here and his pack, at least he thought it was his pack he now had clothes. Problem was trying to get to them without drawing attention.

Even with another problem solved, he didn’t want what Ryoga got in his place, a fiancée.

--Flashback--

“Well, you’re problem isn’t as bad as it seems… considering all the problems in the world. You are still you in your cursed form. You have your skill in the art and from what I can tell, you would bring honor to the Tendo name.” Ranma-Ryoga looked at Mr. Tendo as if he had grown an extra head.

“My daughter Kasumi, she’s nineteen, and Nabiki, seventeen, and Akane, sixteen.” Soun turned the confused martial artist to his daughters pointing out each one. His eyes ended staying on Akane a little longer than the other two, noticing how cute she looked with her guard down. However the moment was quickly ruined, “Pick one and she will be your fiancée.”

“Oh, he wants Akane,” Kasumi said, pushing her younger sister forward.

“Oh, definitely!” Nabiki said, happily. She caught Ranma glancing at her little sister longer than he should have.

“What? You must be joking!” Protesting loudly after her brain was able to restart. Akane really wanted to hit her sisters for this. “Why would I be…”

“Well, you hate boys don’t you?” Nabiki interrupted.

“So, you’re in luck,” Kasumi happily stating. “He’s only a boy half the time.”

“The other half he’s a cute little pig that you adore.” Ranma-Ryoga was giving Nabiki a look that could kill if he wanted. He could take any verbal abuse, thanks to his father, but teasing him about his curse was a different matter.

“ME? Marry that pervert?! Never!” Akane yelled back to her sisters. Ranma-Ryoga was now at boiling temp and needed to be vent. He purposefully strode over to Akane and interrupting her charade and beginning a large argument about perverts.

--Present--

Ranma-hayabusa smirked to himself as he remembered Ryoga heading out, to go back to China and promptly getting himself lost. Everyone dispersed back to what they were doing earlier. Kasumi went back to the kitchen to clean up the dishes, Soun and his father began a game of shogi and tried their best to cheat, Nabiki brought him back up to her room and she started balancing the books, and Akane went up to take another bath since her last one was interrupted.

Later that night, Nabiki and he went downstairs to watch some TV when they say Ranma-Ryoga sitting outside with Genma and Akane sitting at the table seething. It only took a simple question to find out what happened. Ranma-hayabusa didn’t know how Ryoga did it, but walking into the main bath without alerting Kasumi or the fathers who were downstairs. He guessed that the slap that Akane gave Ryoga would be gone by morning, if it wasn’t gone by now.

Gazing up at the stars again, Ranma-hayabusa realized that it was time to get back inside. The night was at its lowest temperature, but Ranma-hayabusa never noticed it as he subconsciously fluffed his feathers against the cold. Then with a simple hop off the peek, he spread his wings open and flew in the direction of Nabiki’s window. Just as he passed the edge of the roof, Ranma-hayabusa inverted himself so he was flying upside down then pulled his wings almost completely in and made a half loop into the open window of Nabiki’s room. With a couple powerful flaps, Ranma-hayabusa landed on his perch. Shortly after landing, he fell asleep thinking of different ways that he could attack in his current form.

***Author’s Note***

Hayabusa - peregrine falcon

For the time that Ryoga will be playing Ranma, it will be denoted as Ranma-Ryoga, unless they are alone or the real Ranma is talking about Ryoga. If someone else can think of a better label for Ryoga, I would appreciate it.

Ok, the Saotome’s have finally arrived. Hope you’ve enjoyed it so far. Next chapter will deal with Ranma and school as well as speeding time up. I know it’s taken me three chapters to get this far, but it will begin to speed up since we don’t have a ‘Ryoga’ to fight ‘Ranma.’ Plus if I can get far enough, there will be signs of Ranma changing back to his human form and start causing havoc again. Don’t worry; there will be an explanation of how Ryoga was able to partially solve his direction sense problem.

With the Tendo’s summer and what Mr. Tendo does, I took some liberties to guess a few things. I know I sped a few things along, but it was necessary to give you an idea of what Ranma did with the Tendo’s.

So, what do you think will happen at school? Should Ryoga challenge Kuno, how about getting lost, maybe even meet up with Dr. Tofu? This as well as other problems shall appear.